WFA Playoffs Recap and Round 2 Preview

As the summer heat begins to increase, so does the intensity of the Women’s Football Alliance Playoffs! We’ve only gotten through the first round and we’ve already been treated to some great nail biters. In the second round we will see the top four teams in Tier I and Tier II, all hoping to be playing in Pittsburgh in five weeks for the Championship.

The first round was the beginning of what promises to be a thrilling playoff season. The Boston Renegades got just enough offense in a game full of great defense to hold on in the final seconds to defeat the Cleveland Fusion 19-13.

From the east coast to the west coast, there was another amazing finish in Portland. The undefeated Portland Fighting Shockwave made a second half comeback, but ran out of time and fell 14-7 to the Pacific Warriors. Running Back for Portland Rebecca Dawson was very proud of her team’s effort after the game “I think it was a good reminder that you have to work hard for four solid quarters to win big games. It was also a testament that we can compete with these teams from California and the east coast.”

We also had a couple of electrifying games including our MyWSports Game of the Week between the Pittsburgh Passion and Atlanta Phoenix. Atlanta has had a great running game all year and were able to establish the running game against the Passion. The Phoenix trailed 21-0 at half time, but scored the next 3 touchdowns to tie the score at 21-21. However, the Passion’s aerial attack of Quarterback Lisa Horton and Wide Receivers Rachel Wojdowski and Angela Baker were just too powerful for the Phoenix defense.

The Mile High Blaze squeaked out a 20-18 win over the Everett Reign and will move on to play the Sin City Trojans. The Kansas City Titans thrashed the Arlington Impact 62-6, unfortunately now they have to head to Dallas and take on the #1 ranked Dallas Elite.

The Alabama Fire stayed hot knocking off the Jacksonville Dixie Blues 54-21 and will face the other playoff team from the South Atlantic Division, the undefeated Tampa Bay Inferno. The Columbus Comets pulled off an upset of the Indy Crash 26-6. Columbus’ offense clicked at the right time and the defense which had struggled in previous weeks was outstanding.

The second round in Tier I could lead to some big upsets. All four of the top seeds have the opportunity to win handedly. Dallas beat Kansas City 60-20, Central Cal beat Pacific 37-14 and 58-6, and Chicago defeated Boston 58-14. We would expect the top teams to roll through in Tier I. Although the teams will not have this mind set, as Odessa Jenkins, Owner and Running Back for the #1 ranked Dallas Elite said “We’ve taken down Goliath’s before and we know everyone would love to take us down, so we don’t take any team lightly. Kansas City is a very good team and people are going to be surprised at how well they play in this game.”

The only game that could be a question mark is the Champion verse Champion matchup that we’ve all been waiting for between the 2015 IWFL Champion, Pittsburgh Passion and the 2015 WFA Champion, DC Divas. We saw in the first round how good the passing game of the Passion can be, if their defense can slow down the Divas, the Passion may have a chance. DC has been in many close games this year and won them all. If the Passion want to win, they may need to get a big and early lead on the Divas.

The second round in Tier II should be full of great action. The St. Louis Slam will host the one win Houston Power. The Power did put together a solid game in their lone win over the Austin Outlaws, however the Slam have won 3 in a row, including against rival Kansas City 32-0 in their last game. Sin City will host Mile High in the Pacific Region. Sin City has been a team of ups and downs, after starting the season 3-0 and scoring an average of 50 points per game, then they played and lost 4 in a row to the Central Cal War Angels and the Pacific Warriors on alternating weekends. Sin City is more equipped in Tier II and should beat the Mile High Blaze, but this could be a very close game.

The Columbus Comets shocked the world with a great first round win over the Indy Crash, the second round however will be a tougher road for the Comets. The Comets will head to Philadelphia to take on the Phantomz. The Phantomz play in the toughest division in the WFA, the Colonial Division, where all 5 teams made the playoffs and includes the Boston Renegades and the reigning WFA Champion DC Divas. The final matchup in Tier II also raises many interesting questions.

The MyWSports Game of the Week to Watch: Alabama Fire @ Tampa Bay Inferno. The Alabama Fire beat Jacksonville in the first round 54-21 and now will take on the undefeated champion of the South Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Inferno. Tampa Bay had a quality 17-14 win over the Atlanta Phoenix in Week 1, the same Phoenix team that handed the Fire their only loss of the season. Alabama would avenge the loss later in the season in Atlanta, 34-18. The Inferno schedule didn’t really challenge them much after week 1, but they took care of business when they needed too. Outside of the two games with Atlanta, Alabama was in a similar situation, however the Fire run game can be dominating. We expect this game may come down to who has the ball last!

Tier III also gets underway June 25th with the So. Oregon Lady Renegades heading to Acadiana to play the Zydeco. The Z’s were 5-3 this year with two close losses to the Arlington Impact. The Lady Renegades finished 2-6, but their offense did score in every game against competition like Portland and Everett who both were playoff teams. The other game is a battle of the Colonial Division between the Richmond Black Widows and the Keystone Assault. In their lone regular season battle, the Black Widows defense shut out the Assault 12-0. Keystone’s offense hasn’t seemed to click all year, scoring just 32 points all year. We expect another close, defensive battle between these two teams, with Richmond heading to the finals.

The MyWSports Player of the Week goes to the Lisa Horton of the Pittsburgh Passion who threw for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns in the Passion’s 35-24 win.

There are no games scheduled for the weekend of June 18th, all second round games will be on June 25th.

Regular Season Records

RANK TEAM RECORD WIN % PF PA Prev Week

1. Dallas Elite (8-0) 1.000 446 39 1

2. C. Cal War Angels (7-0) 1.000 439 26 2

3. DC Divas (7-1) 0.875 366 150 3

4. Chicago Force (7-1) 0.875 332 106 4

5. Pittsburgh Passion (6-2) 0.750 358 122 6

6. Alabama Fire (7-1) 0.875 368 74 8

7. Tampa Bay Inferno (8-0) 1.000 296 76 7

8. Portland Fighting Shockwave (8-0) 1.000 343 32 5

9. Kansas City (5-2) 0.714 245 131 10